In Another Universe
by Quinis
Summary: Ibn meets Mary. They date. They fall in love. Without knowing it, Damian Wayne meets Mar'i Grayson. They fall in love. Grayson's going to kill him, but at least at least this was worth dying for.


**Notes:** This is inspired by a picture on deviantart by emllz, titled 'Morning after'. The picture made me think of a story where Damian and Mar'i meet and begin dating without realising who the other is. It kind of amused me, so I wrote it. Damian knows Mar'i as (Mary) and Mar'i knows Damian as (Ibn).

* * *

 **In Another Universe**

* * *

Golden light filtered through the curtains. Damian turned away from it, reaching out and wrapping his arms around the warm body resting next to him.

His girlfriend was warmer than most, making sheets and blankets almost unnecessary. Without opening his eyes, he knew her skin was almost the same golden colour as the morning light.

She made a small noise and coiled closer, pressing her body up against his and Damian was reminded that his girlfriend was completely naked as certain parts brushed up against him.

He thought two contradicting thoughts in that moment. One; _Grayson was going to kill him_. Two; that another certain part of his felt like a repeat of the previous night.

"Hey, it's morning," he said softly, reaching out and brushing strands of hair away from her face.

Green eyes opened and focused on him.

"Five more minutes," she mumbled.

Damian's lips twisted into a mischievous smirk. If Grayson was going to kill him, he was going to make his last few hours alive worth it. He placed a hand on Mar'i's other side and twisted above her.

"I can think of a better way to spend those five minutes," he whispered in a low voice into her ear before he began pressing his lips to her neck. She stirred and responded, equally mischievous eyes opening to sparkle at him.

* * *

They met at the art museum. Damian had been there, doing something Grayson referred to as 'people watching'. Basically, he was looking for people to draw as practice. Mar'i had walked into the room he was drawing in and he instantly took notice. Her long hair was sleek and wavy, reaching right down to her bottom like a dark, cascading waterfall. Her eyes were a brilliant green which also seemed to seek out the entrances and exits as well as the hidden cameras. Damian found that very impressive and slightly suspicious. She was tall and dressed nicely in a deep blue sundress and heels.

With the almost poetic appearance she had, Damian had to at least attempt to draw her. He hadn't seen anyone like her before.

She walked around the room, looking at the paintings with her hands clasped behind her back. Some paintings caused her to smile a soft smile, lips curling like they held some kind of secret.

That was going to be hard to replicate on paper. Damian tried though.

"Wow, you're really good," he heard behind him. Damian jolted, clasping the art book close to his chest as he jumped from his seat.

It was _her._ He glanced over to where she had been last but she had obviously moved in the time it took him to get the lips just right. How had she managed to sneak up on him? He hadn't even heard her heels click on the ground!

Her eyes widened and she moved back a little.

"Sorry," she said with her hands out. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to know what you were drawing. Un... I didn't expect it to be me." She looked away, blushing a little before refocusing on him. "But, you're really good! I guess you know that already. Oh! Sorry, my name's Mar'i." She pronounced her name like Mary and held out her hand for a handshake.

Damian was slightly taken aback at how she seemed to have an entire conversation with him without him having to say a word.

"Ibn," he responded, taking her hand. It was the name he used while out on the streets. 'Damian Wayne' was a little too high profile for him to use in public if he wanted things to be quiet. "Do you always introduce yourself to strange men who draw you?"

She laughed, a light happy sound.

"No. Only the cute ones."

He was grinning now too. For some reason.

"Cute wouldn't make me any less of a strange man," he responded. Sensibly, he thought.

She seemed to find that amusing.

"No. But I was giving you a compliment."

"I didn't need it." After a pause. "Wouldn't handsome be a better compliment for a man?" he countered.

She thoughtfully and exaggeratedly looked him up and down.

"No," she responded. "Cute works for you."

Damian frowned and glared. His face had grown to look more like his father's, although it possessed a sharpness and oval shape more like his mother's. People called him 'handsome' all the time at his father's parties, although more in a cooing way he could never get his father's class to drop.

Mar'i, however, seemed serious and teasing all in one.

* * *

They had coffee together. Mar'i arrived the same time he did, that is, five minutes beforehand. She was grinning as she held the door open for him.

"First," she commented.

"This wasn't a race," he responded, "but I will defeat you next time."

She giggled. This was going well. He liked making her laugh.

He found out that Mar'i was in college, studying biology. She lived in an apartment which her dad owned, "although he doesn't live there, he just visits and sleeps on my couch".

She also had a bit of a temper.

* * *

"Name?" the cashier behind the counter asked.

"Ibn," Damian responded.

The cashier gave him an icy stare.

"What kind of name is that?" they asked in disgust.

"My name," Damian said. His grandfather's name for him but, it shouldn't illicit a reaction like that.

"You don't have a proper name, an American one?" the cashier demanded.

"Excuse me?" Damian snapped back. "It's my Grandfather's name for me. I might hate the man but-" he stopped when Mar'i held up her hand and pushed forward.

"Hi, good morning," she said with a grin.

The cashier stared at her. After a few moments he gathered enough sense to greet her back.

"You see this line?" Mar'i asked, flourishing her hand at the people waiting. "We'd all like to order. But, unfortunately, we're being held up by Ibn's order. I want a mocha. Medium or whatever equivalent you have. I'm going to put 'Pretty Princess Pegasus' as my name and there'll be no issues with that. And if you can't do it, find someone who can. Thank you."

The cashier looked to Ibn and then at the register.

"Oh, whatever, I'll pay for his order too," Mar'i said with a smile and wallet in hand. "Just add mine on there."

It was an amazing display of manipulation and snide politeness which just made Damian feel giddy. He could grow used to having this woman around.

* * *

Damian didn't see Mar'i's anger until their fourth date. They had been walking around the streets when her phone went off. It was her dad.

"THEN DON'T BOTHER!" she shouted into the phone furiously. If it was possible to slam a mobile phone while hanging up, Damian was certain Mar'i had managed it.

"What... uh... are you... ugh," he ran a frustrated hand through his hair and placed his other hand around her shoulders. "You okay?" he said. It was simple and to the point.

Mar'i looked over at him, hair having spilled across her face in her furious movements. She tucked the loose parts behind her ear and gave him a smile. It was fake but a smile he had seen on her a few times.

"It's fine," she responded. "Dad was going to visit but something came up. I don't get to see him much as is."

"Really?" Damian questioned.

"He's a busy man."

"Busy?"

"He travels and there's a lot of work involved in his job," Mar'i responded. "Plus, he's working at least two jobs at any one time. Idiot."

Damian had to agree. Mar'i's father sounded like a workaholic. "Sounds a little like my father."

Mar'i shrugged, heart not in it. She was obviously drained from her short interaction with her dad.

"Want to..." How did one cheer up the person who was essentially their significant other? "Get some icecream or something?" Icecream was a comfort food like chicken soup. Right?

"Sure. Any suggestions?"

Damian asked for directions to the nearest place which turned out to be a gelato store. He thought it wasn't what they were after but Mar'i said it might be better.

"I want to marry this," Mar'i said with a happy sigh, almost melting to the table as she nursed her bowl of chocolate-mint chip. "What's yours taste like?"

Damian pulled his bowl close and glared at her. He had also tasted his vanilla flavour. It was much better than the stuff he usually had.

"I'm not sharing."

"Come on. Didn't your parents teach you it's good to share?"

"Nope. My mother is all for crushing my enemies while my father's not really the life lessons type." Grayson, on the other hand, had told Damian many things which sounded like things said to children on regular basis. Including some stupid 'sharing is caring' rhyme.

Mar'i gave a confused frown but Damian could almost see her filing the information away in her mind.

At least she seemed happier when they left.

* * *

Damian was getting serious with Mar'i. He knew it. He couldn't remember how life was before she was there.

Yet, she didn't even know his legal name. Only part of the title Damian's grandfather had been fond of.

"I'm going to tell her," he said, trying to psych himself up for this admission. He didn't know how Mar'i would react to him being Bruce Wayne's youngest son. They always seemed to avoid the topic of Bruce Wayne. Why hadn't Damian brought it up earlier so he could gauge her reaction to his father?

He had arranged for a table at a good restaurant and was waiting for Mar'i to arrive. He didn't have to wait long. The room seemed to hush when she walked in. Damian heard the couple a few tables over question whether she was a model.

Mar'i smiled when she spotted him and walked quickly over to sit down.

"What's the occasion?" she asked.

Damian shifted nervously, his elation at seeing her shifting into a rock in his stomach.

"I have a confession to make." He looked up at her to see her green eyes hanging on his every word. "I wasn't completely honest when I told you my name."

"I don't understand."

"Uh... my name is Damian Wayne. Ibn is what my grandfather used to call me."

Mar'i stared. Damian realised it was taking a long time for this to sink in. There was no sign of what she was thinking on her face.

The corner of her mouth twitched. She covered it. Her shoulders shock.

"Are you laughing?" he questioned in outrage. "I agonise over how to tell you this and how you're going to react and you laugh?"

"I'm sorry!" Mar'i giggled. "I- this is just- X'hal." She tried to calm down by taking deep breaths. "You're Damian Wayne."

He nodded, trying to place 'X'hal'. He had heard it before but he wasn't sure where.

"My name is Mar'iander Grayson."

Damian wondered if she was messing with him. "That's not possible." He recalled that it was Kori, better known as Starfire, who said 'X'hal'. Grayson's ex.

"There's a reason you haven't met my parents," Mar'i pointed out seriously. But, his disbelief was evidence on his face. "Okay, how about I prove it?"

"How?"

Mar'i stood up and grabbed her bag. "Come to my apartment. There's proof there."

It wasn't like she would be able to get the drop on him, if this was some kind of trick. And Damian reluctantly believed her. Mar'i wasn't the kind of person to lie like this.

But, was Grayson the kind of person to hide a daughter? Maybe Mar'i wasn't his daughter and Damian was drawing the wrong conclusions?

He thought about all these things during the quiet drive back to her apartment.

* * *

Mar'i's birth certificate laid to rest any question of whether she was Grayson's daughter. But, Damian had to admit, he was more interested in the pictures of her with her dad. It certainly looked like Dick Grayson with her. She also had her hair styled in a short bob which made her look like a dark mushroom.

"What?" Mar'i scowled as he let out a snort.

"Who let you cut your hair like that?" he questioned. She also had ridiculously chubby cheeks and a bandaid on her forehead.

"What's wrong with it?" Mar'i questioned. However, she had noticed the amused grin on his face and relaxed a little.

Damian stared at the picture, waved his hand at it and just said, "everything!" Including the dress which looked like a long shirt with flowers printed on it.

Mar'i snatched the picture from him. "If you're going to question my fashion choices, then I'm not showing you any more pictures."

"No way," Damian responded, grabbing the photo book and jumping back to create distance between them. "You know about my childhood, now I get to know everything about yours."

Mar'i glared, her eyes lighting up with an alien glow. Now that Damian knew who she was, she didn't have to hide her more alien features from him.

* * *

They had walked out of the restaurant before ordering their meal so Mar'i whipped something up from her freezer. Damian drooled over the heated up frozen pizza.

When there were no pieces left and Damian had finished grinning at one of Mar'i's stories about her dad; this one involved dance lessons, picking out a tutu and Mar'i's insistence that her dad try them on with her.

Unfortunately, there were no pictures Damian could use as blackmail. He had a feeling he might need some kind of leverage over Grayson after this night. In the privacy of Mar'i's apartment, they had moved closer and closer and Mar'i was almost sitting on his lap, grinning at him as she described the sales staff handing her dad tutu after tutu.

Mar'i glanced at her bedroom door before whispering something in his ear. He grinned widely.

If Grayson was going to kill him for this, at least this was worth dying for.


End file.
